


Love Hurts

by The_Dancing_Walrus



Category: DCU
Genre: Bromance, Coffee, Death, Earth-3 (Crime Syndicate Universe), Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 10:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/773158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Dancing_Walrus/pseuds/The_Dancing_Walrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Jokester attempts to stop Alex from wallowing in misery for the rest of his life. With coffee. </p>
<p>And psychiatric help. His take on it anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Hurts

He sat on the sofa staring blankly at the bottle because he’d put it down in front of him and his mind had wandered elsewhere. A weaker man would have reached inevitably for one more and one more and one more drink but they were going through a bad time and his people needed him sober. So he stared and added up tallys in his head.

 

Mercy was dead. Clayface was dead. Boon was dead. Ivo was……but that one wasn’t even the Crime Society’s fault.

 

Waylon was missing. Harley was missing. Isley was missing. Twelve of the Riddler kids were missing which wasn’t something he wanted to think about but Eddie was looking and Eddie was brilliant.

 

Crane was crippled. Jervis was seriously injured.

 

They’d lost contact with Central City, putting another dozen people in the dark.

 

And he knew he had to get up, to think of something, to talk to them, give them a reason to keep going and find some way to get them through this alive.

 

He’d been telling himself he’d get up in a minute for an hour.

 

He started when he heard the door, reached automatically for a sidearm and felt horribly guilty to see Jackie standing there with a small, almost sad smile. He sighed with relief and tried awkwardly to pretend he hadn’t been about to blow a hole in his best friend.

 

The clown slapped a bigger, staged grin on his face and sauntered over, which was when he noticed the mugs.

 

“You brought me coffee?” Was it pathetic to be _that_ grateful for caffeine?

 

“Yep!” The Jokester replied cheerily. “Six shots of ex-press-oh and five spoons of sugar!”

 

He smiled and decided that the _really_ pathetic thing was considering drinking it.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“No problem.” Jackie said settling next to him.

 

He took a sip and winced. The clown could probably kill a diabetic from a kilometre with his breath if he drank this all the time.

 

“So?” Jackie began.

 

“So.” He answered.

 

The Jokester sighed melodramatically and rolled his eyes heavenward as if to convey that he- Alex Luthor- was being a complete and utter ass.

 

“Yah know it’s okay to be upset right? You don’t have to go all _Mah-Cho-Man_ stoically _taking one_ for the teeeeeeam……”

 

“Sorry if I don’t think screaming at the CSA is going to bring anyone back.”

 

Jackie cracked a genuine smile around his mug. “You really miss her huh?”

 

So that’s what this was about, psychiatric help from the most deranged individual he knew.

 

“Yes.” He said because there was no point in lying when Jackie was showing disturbing signs of telepathy.

 

“Weeeeeell I’m sorry to break this to you Sweetums,” Jackie told him leaning back into cushions. “but it’s not going to go away.”

 

“Let me guess,” He began without meaning to sound as bitter as he did. “Love hurts?”

 

The Jokester raised his mug in a wholehearted salute. “Here’s to masochism.”

 

He couldn’t help but smile.


End file.
